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SEOUL, Jan. 15 (UPI) — More than three-quarters of South Koreans registered as members of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War have died without being reunited with relatives in North Korea, official government data showed Thursday.

As of Dec. 31, 2025, a total of 134,516 people had registered with South Korea’s government as separated family members, the Ministry of Unification said in its latest statistical release. Of those, 101,148 — about 75% — were confirmed dead, leaving just 34,368 survivors.

The figures highlight the rapid aging of the remaining survivors. More than 65% of living registrants are aged 80 or older, including 10,885 people aged 90 or above, the data showed.

North and South Korea have held 21 family reunions since 2000, with the most recent taking place in August 2018 during a period of inter-Korean detente. Relations have frozen over in recent years, however, and time is not on the side of family members still hoping to connect with long-lost relatives.

Since taking office in June, President Lee Jae Myung has called for restoring humanitarian cooperation with Pyongyang, identifying separated family reunions as a priority issue in efforts to stabilize inter-Korean relations.

“I believe that it is the responsibility of all political leaders in both the South and the North to ensure that these tragically separated families can confirm the fate of their relatives and, at the very least, exchange letters,” Lee said in October.

Seoul has also sought to advance humanitarian engagement through institutional measures. In December, the Ministry of Unification released a 2026 policy plan aimed at “peaceful coexistence” with North Korea, pledging to expand separated family programs such as DNA testing, video messages and efforts to confirm the status of missing relatives.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young underscored the sense of urgency during a recent visit with elderly separated family members, including a 105-year-old man in Seoul. “Separated families represent the greatest sorrow born of national division,” Chung said, adding that “time is running out.”

North Korea has not responded to recent proposals for humanitarian exchanges, however, as inter-Korean communication channels remain dormant amid heightened tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs. In February, North Korea began dismantling the facility used for family reunions at its Mount Kumgang tourist zone, a further sign of deteriorating relations.

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said on Tuesday that South Korea’s hopes for improved ties were an “illusion.”

“As far as Seoul’s various hope-filled wild dreams called ‘repair of (North-South) relations’ are concerned, they all can never come true,” Kim said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry said Wednesday it would prioritize confirming the fate of separated family members in North Korea if inter-Korean relations improve. In this February 2021 photo, visitors look at ribbons wishing for Korean Unification near the DMZ. File Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI | License Photo

The unification ministry said Wednesday it will prioritize confirming the fate of separated families’ relatives in North Korea if strained inter-Korean relations begin to improve.

Under the 2026-2028 plan for supporting families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, the ministry said it will make efforts to resume exchanges between such divided families at the government level and facilitate civilian-level exchanges between them.

“When there is progress over inter-Korean relations, the government will prioritize confirming the fate of the families’ relatives in North Korea,” the ministry said.

Since the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, the two Koreas have held 21 rounds of separated family reunions. Since the last event in August 2018, state-arranged family events have been suspended amid frosty inter-Korean ties.

North Korea dismantled a reunion facility for separated families inside its Mount Kumgang tourist area after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered officials in 2019 to tear down all “unpleasant-looking” facilities built by South Korea at the mountain resort.

The ministry said it will consider measures to replace the family reunions location and seek reciprocal visits to Seoul and Pyongyang by separated families in the two Koreas.

The issue of separated families has taken on urgency as more elderly people have died without having a chance to meet their kin in the North due to Pyongyang’s reluctance to hold family reunion events.

The number of surviving separated family members registered with the government came to 34,658 as of the end of November. Of them, 32 percent are aged 90 and older.

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Dec. 24 (Asia Today) — Unification Minister Chung Dong-young met separated families ahead of the year-end holidays and said South Korea will seek to resolve humanitarian issues through inter-Korean dialogue, the ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry said Chung visited Kim Bong-hwan, 105, on Tuesday. Kim told Chung he has spent his life hoping to meet younger siblings in North Korea after being separated from his parents and siblings during the Korean War. He asked that authorities at least confirm whether his family members in the North are alive or dead, the ministry said.

Chung said separated families represent one of the deepest tragedies created by the division of the peninsula. With most separated family members elderly, time is short, he said, adding the government will pursue multiple avenues to address humanitarian issues, including inter-Korean dialogue.

The ministry said Chung also delivered New Year’s cards and consolation gifts to 100 elderly separated family members.

It said it plans to continue projects aimed at supporting separated families and expanding the foundation for exchanges, including a Separated Family Day event held annually on the 13th day of the eighth lunar month, invitation events, DNA testing and video letter production.

The ministry said it also visited some families of detainees and abductees during the year-end holiday season.

Families of detainees and abductees said Vice Unification Minister Kim Nam-joong and ministry officials met families of detainees to offer support and that schedules were being coordinated for meetings with families of post-war abduction victims.

However, groups representing families of wartime abductees and Korean War prisoners of war said there has been no discussion or coordination so far on meetings with the ministry around the year-end and New Year holidays.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

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